Mmmmm stuffed peppers and muffins

Had the best freaking lunch today! A beautiful red bell pepper stuffed with awesomeness. The stuffing is made of brown rice, silken tofu (that's been sauteed in red wine and tomato juice), dried cherries, walnuts, black pepper, and fresh ginger. So yummy! Then I shove all this into red and green bell peppers and bake for about 15 mins. So easy and soooo good. This comes to us courtesy of a great book called Vegan Meals for One or Two, by Nancy Berkoff. The book has been great so far with lots of simple recipes for everyday vegan cooking. Perfect when you're pressed for time. They turned out so good!

Another item that always turns out great are the carrot and raisin muffins form Vegan with a Vengeance. These are Elie's favorite and I can tell why. Now, I'm a big fan of the quinoa muffins from the Veganomicon, but these muffins are so soft. The carrot and raisins make them so naturally sweet. The nice thing is that this recipe is easily modified. I can use agave to replace the white sugar and it doesn't really alter the texture much. Love that! These muffins are perfect for all the time, especially cause they're so easy to make. But the nutmeg and cinnamon in them makes me think so much of the fall. I have a feeling that I'll be having these a lot more from now on.

Healthcare reform

Obviously, this a huge topic of debate and hopefully productive discussion. I read an interesting article on the subject by the CEO of wholefoods. Some things I agree with and some things I find questionable. What do you think?
Read and leave a comment.

Vegan Marshmallows!

I want to die a delicious death where I'm smothered in these vegan marshmallows. I must be the last person to find out, but these marshmallows come from and awesome company called Dandies. I have been, thus far, so dissatisfied with my vegan marshmallow experiences. They always have a weird texture, or are way too sugary, or are sometimes brown (which I guess matters to me more than it should). But the most awesome thing about Dandies marshmallows is that they are sweetened with Beet sugar. This means so much to those of use who try to stay away from white sugars (which aren't really vegan) and who try to avoid evaporated cane juice.

Here's the ingredient listing:
Vanilla Dandies Vegan Marshmallows Ingredients:
Corn Syrup, Vegan Beet Sugar, Corn Starch, Corn Dextrose, Water, Carrageenan, Soy Protein, Natural Vanilla Flavor

Dandies claims that Rice Krispie treats come out exactly as if you were using evil marshmallows (obviously, not vegan).

So exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I recently discovered these on an awesome blog, Vegan Eats & Treats, when Amey posted about making S'mores. I can't wait to make my own! Thank you, Amey.

I'm back and with Biscuits.

What?! It's only been about 4 months since my last post. Alright, I promise. I'm trying to be a lot better about doing this consistently. I promise!

I have to post about these awesome biscuits I've been baking. They come from Vegan with a Vengeance, an awesome vegan cookbook. They're baking soda biscuits. The recipe is soooo easy, that's why I love them. Anything that's easy to make I'll do over and over again. The best part is that you can modify them to whatever flavor you enjoy. I wanted a savory biscuit, so I added fresh rosemary and dried oregano, sage, and thyme. It was a freaking Scarborough Fair biscuit. They go so well with soups and chilis. I paired them with white bean patties that also came from VWAV.




So yummy!

A Work of Art and Dirty List

I need to share this beautiful nutritious meal. So beautiful you could have an orgasm just looking at it. Look at it! It's kale and chanterelle mushrooms (yes, those ridiculously expensive ones, but I got mine for free when the man came home from a camping trip in California) sauteed with garlic. I don't know if that's best way to prepare those mushrooms, but I liked it. My grain was a tomatoey quinoa and chick pea mix that came from the Veganomican. Topped off with a few sesame seeds for a pleasant crunch, the meal was perfect. I've been big on the kale thing lately. But it's important to know that recently that mighty leafy green has been named one of the most pesticide ridden vegetables. Refer to this list, known as the "dirty dozen," to get the low down on the other most highly pesticide riddled fruits and veggies. These may be worth spending a little more money on to get organic. I know it's a lot, but since I've been having kale a couple of times a week I'm gonna try to get myself the cleanest I can.

Soup with Mac and Cheese. Yay Comfort Food!

Another yummy meal was made thanks to my never-ending roving of vegan and veggie blogs. This time I made a lovely tomatoey roasted garlic and white bean soup. Found in the Veganomican, the best thing about this soup is that there was just so much left over. It fed us both for a week! I loved the taste of two whole bulbs of roasted garlic. Even roasting them was a pleasure. I love the smell of it wafting around the house.

To accompany the soup I made vegan mac and cheese found on the Vive Le Vegan blog. Such a great source for easy vegan recipes. This pasta was really intriguing due to its "cheese" sauce made of brazil and cashew nuts. When following this recipe trust what is said about the pasta. It won't look like you have enough, but you will. The soupy consitancy of the sauce thickens and soaks up in the oven. But as you can see here I way overdid it on the bread crumbs. I think this would have been a fantastic Mac and Cheese, but unfortunately the bread crumb overload made it super dry. After brushing some off though I really was able to enjoy the nutty tast of the sauce. You will enjoy this! I'm so grateful to all the blogs written by vegan chefs out there. They provide an endless amount of nutritious and usually tasty meals. I can't wait to go online and find out what the next culinary experiment will be!

Sanskrit 101

Well, it's been a while...A couple of weeks ago I spent an amazing weekend learning the Sanskrit alphabet. Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages and today is mostly visible in Hindu and Buddhist texts. But was also used widely in scientific and medical texts as well. It is the language of yoga and yogic mantras. I shared a glorious 3 days with friends of mine from the Breathing Project, the school where we take certification classes, getting familiar with the sacred sounds.

Jo Brill, who was trained at the American Institute for Sanskrit, was our guide through the beautiful ancient language. I can't praise her enough as a teacher. She broke down our ego-ridden barriers and helped us open to the joyful experience of pure sound. With unfailing patience and grace, Jo taught us to recite the Sanskrit alphabet (a beautiful mantra in itself) and read a little out loud. I was transported to the excitement I felt as a child when presented with something new to learn. To facilitate this process Jo did not allow us to take notes. We had no choice but to focus entirely on the sounds/knowledge being transmitted to us. I have to admit to having some anxiety about note taking. I thought, "I don't know how else to learn."

Perhaps this is the one lesson I am most grateful to Jo for teaching us. I never realized how limited I thought my capacity for learning was. I also never saw how instead of bathing in the present moment of enlightenment when learning something new I sought to greedily capture the words that I thought represented that wisdom. Capture them in a book, as if that would keep them with me forever. As I look back on all the books and papers I've kept from College and try to remember everything in them I realize how false and unhelpful this method has been. Don't get me wrong. I will continue to take notes, but will also trust that I have the ability to learn and retain information on multiple, previously undiscovered levels. Thanks Jo!

It was a little bitter sweet also. I was reminded in this weekend how much I would love to go back to school and get my doctorate in Religious Studies. But as a wise friend pointed out, "Why waste so many years in school if you don't want to teach?" So true. I'm learning to keep my academic passions and turn them into personal hobbies. See? All better...well, maybe someday I'll go back to class. Regardless, it was a most lovely weekend I shall treasure forever!